| Description: Fortuna
Cairo (nee Muto) was married to Joseph
Cairo. Joseph came to Chicago somewhere between 1892 and 1895,
leaving his wife and five children (Rose, Pasquale, Salvatore (Eugene),
Maria, and Frank) back in Marano Principato, Italy. He and his
brother-in-law, Dominico Muto, worked as switchmen for the
Chicago and North Western Railroad and lived together in a boxcar. They
used kerosene lamps to guide the trains at night. On October 3,
1895, two trains were approaching each other on the same track in
Highland Park, Illinois. Dominico Muto was not particularly
attentive of the situation, but Joseph Cairo saw the impending collision
and rushed to switch the tracks. He was struck by the train
approaching from the north. A doctor was called in, but Joseph
died later that night. The Chicago and North Western Railroad left
$1000 in escrow in 1900 for Fortuna Cairo and her five children.
They also offered education and a home in Kenosha, Wisconsin for
them - if and when they came to America.
Fortuna Cairo had another brother named Casper
(Gaspare) Muto. He and his wife Mary (nee Luchetta)
brought Fortuna's oldest two children, Rose and Pasquale, to Chicago
sometime between 1896 and 1900. The other three children
(Salvatore, Maria, and Frank) came over together around 1900 and stayed
with Uncle Casper and Aunt Mary.
After sending her five children to America,
Fortuna Muto married again when she was much older to a man named Covelli,
a wealthy property owner. In 1949, Joseph Pellicore,
husband of Fortuna's eldest daughter Rose, traveled to
Italy. Property had been sold which amounted to $300. Fortuna
wanted it divided equally between her five children; Joe told her
to keep his wife's (Rose) and Salvatore's shares. The other three
children received $60 each. Nobody seems to know what happened to the
$1,000 held in an escrow account by the railroad for Fortuna Muto. They
had a house in Kenosha Wisconsin that was purchased for her and the five
children, though they never occupied it. Fortuna lived well into
her 90's. |
